


Princes and Palaces

by phanscheekybumsecks



Category: Phandom/The Fantastic Foursome (YouTube RPF)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Royalty, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, M/M, Royalty
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-08-28
Updated: 2017-03-12
Packaged: 2018-08-11 15:17:48
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,400
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7897699
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/phanscheekybumsecks/pseuds/phanscheekybumsecks
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Philip Lester is a prince, a royal. Dan just wants to live his life. Their paths cross when Dan's sister is suddenly engaged to Prince Philip.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [The Prince and the Youtuber](https://archiveofourown.org/works/5255330) by [koleen](https://archiveofourown.org/users/koleen/pseuds/koleen). 



"basically, everything we do means nothing because in the grand scheme of things we are nothing." says Dan Howell to a camera. He's having another existential crisis. This happened all the time, so often that he probably wouldn't even bother posting this video. Dan was a you tuber, and he pretty much just talked at a camera for a living. He loved his job and was actually getting to be quite famous on YouTube. However this week he was struggling to come up with a decent video idea.  
He turned off the camera and sighed. Lacking the motivation to actually cook something he ordered a pizza. He was planning on curling up on the couch and watching some anime. Just as the pizza arrived and he was all set, his phone rang on the other side of the room. He sighed deciding to let it go to voicemail rather than bothering to actually get up and walk. Suddenly it rang again. Dan groaned as he sat up, walking over to answer.  
"what." he said sharply irritated at having to get up.  
"Daniel, you'll never believe what just happened.". Only one person called him Daniel.  
"what is it mum?" he sighed.  
"Daphne received a letter from the royal family! Apparently, my father was friends with the late King and they arranged for my first born to be married to the kings grandchild. Prince Philip!", exclaimed Dan's mother.  
"what?!" dan said confused  
"Daphne is going to be a princess!" said his mum excited.  
"good for her." grumbled Dan. Of fucking course. Dan couldn't bring himself to be excited for her. Daphne was a year older than Dan and Dan was always living in her shadow. She was in college and was going to be a teacher, whereas Dan had dropped out and spent his days scrolling through the internet. It wasn't hard to see who his parents favored. And now she was to be a fucking princess. Great.  
His mother droned on and on about how wonderful this was.  
"and you have to be there too and-"  
"wait what? Where do I have to be?" Dan asked finally paying attention.  
"at the dinner. " his mum replied.  
"what?" he said.  
"We are all going to the palace so Daphne and Philip can meet." she replied exasperated.  
She went on to share all the details and Dan sighed. Ugh. Now he has to deal with some prince whose probably spoiled and stuffy and terrible, as his brother in law. Perfect.

Phil yawned as he woke up. It was noon already and he groaned. Today was the day he would meet his fiancée. Ugh. Phil was only 23. He was definitely not ready to get married. Especially to someone he had never met before. However, when he turned 23 and received a letter from his late grandfather declaring the arrangement, there wasn't much he could do. His parents were certainly excited. His mother had always wanted grandchildren. So he would have to go along with it. I mean, the least he could do was meet her.   
He sighed again finally sitting up rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. He glanced over to find a magazine on his bedside table featuring him on the cover. Phil rolled his eyes at the image, it was him riding a horse. In magazines and interviews he was to present himself as royalty would. Formal and posh af. The truth was that he was nothing like that. His room had band posters on the walls and stuffed pokemon on the dresser and buffy and video games galore. He was a giant nerd. He stood up and immediately tripped on air falling to the ground. And clumsy. Phil was very very clumsy.   
He made his way downstairs through the palace and into the kitchen. He grabbed a box of shreddies and turned to head right back up to his room. He climbed back into his bed and began shoveling cereal into his mouth as he scrolled through tumblr. A few hours later Susan walked into his room. Susan was one of the many maids and butlers etc who worked in the palace.   
"Philip, it's time you prepare for the dinner." she said, "Some of the ladies are downstairs preparing an outfit."  
"okay, thanks Susan" Phil sighed closing his laptop and rising making his was through the palace.  
Phil was given a suit to wear and dressed quickly. He headed to the dining room leisurely, taking his time. He was nervous and really didn't want to be there at all. He turned a corner and walked right into someone. Fantastic. They both fell down the boy landing right on top of Phil.   
A second passes before the boy jumps up realizing what just happened.  
"I'm so sorry oh my god are you alright??" the boy says looking nervous.  
"I'm fine it's okay" Phil says chuckling as the boy's face turns bright red.  
"wait. Oh shit, you’re Prince Philip. Fuck." the boy says somehow turning even redder.  
"yup. Phil's fine though. Erm, who are you?" Phil says.  
"oh right yeah, I'm Dan, you're supposed to marry my sister." says Dan.  
"right, that’s happening, yup right I uh erm." replies Phil stammering as he actually looks at Dan. Holy shit. Dan was hot.   
"…right. So, I'm very lost." says Dan.   
"oh ya, were supposed to be in the dining room, umm, come on" replies Phil leading the way.   
Dan walks behind him quietly, an awkward silence filling the air. When they make it to the door to the dining room, they stop looking at each other.   
"thanks." says Dan quietly before finally pushing open the door rushing over to sit besides his family.  
Phil follows a second after quickly heading over to his seat.  
"ah finally! Phil meet Daphne" Phil's mother, the queen, says with a smile.  
"hello, nice to meet you" Phil says politely.  
Phil looks at Daphne, her smile seems forced. He thinks nothing of it and finds himself watching Dan.  
Dan is sat looking down at the table awkwardly his brown fringe falling over his eyes. Phil can't help but want to run his fingers through Dan's soft hair and... NOPE. You're to marry his sister. Stop it. Phil scolds himself.   
"You guys should stay the night! It would give the kids a chance to interact on their own, oh this is perfect!" said Phil's mum the queen.  
At this, Phil's head snaps up. He knows his mom and is fully aware that now he's supposed to "fall in love" and all that other shit before he's forced to get married. great.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> lmao "ill update in a week" hahahaha LIES

Daphne's POV  
"You guys should stay the night! It would give the kids a chance to interact on their own, oh this is perfect!" says the queen.  
Oh shit oh shit oh shit. Daphne fakes a smile and nods along with everyone else. Fuck. Daphne didn’t ask for any of this. She would have been happy living an average life. She was in college working towards a teaching credential. She had friends. A nice job in a coffee shop, just until she could teach though. She was actually in a relationship! She'd been with Rebecca for months now, though it had taken a while. After a year of low-key flirting, late night walks, and studying together, they had finally got together. Rebecca was her girlfriend. And now Daphne's engaged. The night she got it she cried. She didn't want this. But what is she supposed to do about it? Her parent's were so excited once she had calmed down and rang them. She's always wanted to make them proud. Maybe things could still work out. She could talk to Prince Philip and everything would work out.   
Okay. It'll all work out. Daphne chants this over and over in his mind as a kind of mantra. She forces herself to continue smiling as maids come take away their plates and such.   
"okay, Philip, escort Daphne and Daniel to their rooms." says the queen with a smile.   
"okay." replies Phil standing up, "come with me."  
Daphne stands up and glances over at Dan. He rises hesitantly unsure before following Daphne over to Phil.   
They begin walking following Phil through the maze of hallways and stairs.   
"so. I'm Phil." says Phil awkwardly.   
"Daphne." She replies.  
"So. What do you do?" asks Phil.  
"I'm in university, I'm going to be a teacher." says Daphne.  
"What about you Dan?" Phil asks slowing so Dan walks besides him.  
"youtube" says Dan quietly.  
"Really? That's so cool, what's your channel name" asks Phil.  
Dan chuckled nervously unsure if he wanted the fucking Prince to see that mess.   
"maybe I'll tell you one day" says Dan shyly.  
"aww" says Phil pouting making a mental note to stalk *cough* research Dan Howell.   
They walk in silence before stopping in a hallway with three doors.   
"okay so Daphne, this is your room," says Phil tapping on a door, "This is mine" he says tapping on the next door, "and Dan this is yours." he says tapping on the last one.  
They all stand around awkwardly for a bit.  
"erm. We don’t actually have to hang out or anything…" says Phil awkwardly   
"thank" says Dan leaving to go to his room. He closes the door behind him.  
"erm…sorry but um I wasn't really planning on staying the night umm, pajamas?" says Daphne.   
"Oh right ya there are some on your bed in your room." says Phil.  
They stand quietly for a few minutes.   
"good night. It was nice meeting you." says Daphne before leaving to go to her room.   
"night." says Phil in response before he too went to his room.  
When Daphne gets to her room she shuts the door and sighs. Fuck.   
Immediately she goes to sit on the bed and pulls out her phone. She goes to call Rebecca.  
"Hello? Daphne?" says Rebecca.  
"hey."  
"what's up?"  
"I'm at the palace and I just had dinner with the royal family." says Daphne  
"shut up" says Rebecca laughing.  
"I'm serious!" says Daphne.  
"Really? Why?" replies Rebecca."Well, apparently I've been arranged to marry Prince Philip." says Daphne nervously.  
The line goes silent for a second.  
"What the fuck? " says Rebecca laughing.  
"I love you." says Daphne sadly.  
"wait seriously?" says Rebecca.  
"Rebecca listen, I love you, I'm so so sorry, I want to be with you, I- I" exclaims Daphne.  
"hey hey it's fine. It's not your fault. We'll deal with this and it'll all work out, okay love?" says Rebecca seemingly calm though it sounds forced.  
"Rebecca, I promise I will fix this, okay?" says Daphne.  
"yeah, okay" says Rebecca softly.  
They hang up and Daphne gets ready for bed.  
She can make this work, she'll talk to Phil and work everything out. It'll be fine.

 

Phil  
The walls are thin. People don’t realize this but the walls of the palace are thin af. And there are secret passageways all over but that’s for another time. Phil lays on his bed listening to the other rooms as he usually does.   
Suddenly he hears Daphne in the room over on the phone.   
"Rebecca I love you" he hears.   
Well.   
Phil can’t help but laugh. Thank God. She's gay. He doesn’t have to get married.   
Wait. Shit. She must not be out yet. No one else seemed to know about this Rebecca. Fuck. He still is going to have to wait it out. It'll work out though and he won't have to marry her in the end. Probably. There's still the chance she goes through with the whole marriage thing. That her thing with Rebecca doesn’t work or she really wants to be royal something.  
Eh. It'll be fine. For some reason, Phil can't really bring himself to care either way. I mean, it's not like he really has a choice about anything in his life. He's a prince. People are constantly watching him. I mean, his entire future is already planned out, what he wants doesn’t seem to matter.   
Phil goes back to laying down and listening. Dan's shower is running. Phil can hear the boy singing. Is that muse? Oh my god he's singing Muse. Phil can hear the shower turn off. Suddenly he hears Dan curse, then a knock on his wall.  
"phil?" says Dan his voice muffled by the wall.   
"yeah?" He calls back.   
"erm so there are no pajamas on the bed." says Dan awkwardly through the wall.  
"oh. I got this." says Phil stifling a laugh.  
He goes to his closet and grabs some of his own pajamas.  
Phil walks to Dan's door and knocks.  
"It's me. I brought some pajamas." he says.  
"Right." says Dan. The door opens a crack and Dan's hand shoots out. He grabs the pajamas and the door shuts again. A few minutes later the door opens again and Dan is dressed.   
"Thanks." he says.  
For a second Phil can't speak. Dan's hair is curling after the shower and he looks so soft and adorable. Phil's pajamas are a bit big on him on hi and he looks small and adorable.  
"right yeah no problem." Phil says after realizing Dan's talking to him, "um…do you want to play mario kart?"  
"oh sure"   
They go into Phil's room and Dan smiles when he sees it.  
"We like pretty much all the same bands and games and shows oh my god" says Dan.  
Phil smiles in response as he sets up the game.  
"You do realize I'm going to completely destroy you. I am the mario kart master." says Dan.  
Phil snorts, "yeah right."  
They play round after round. Dan wins every. Single. Time.  
"UGH! You're cheating!" says Phil.  
Dan giggles. "You just really suck"  
Phil notices Dan shivering. Phil jumps up and grabs a hoody and tosses it at Dan, "Here."  
Dan smiles gratefully.  
"are you tired?" asks Phil looking over at Dan.  
"My sleep schedule is all messed up I'm good." he says.  
"Oh! You never told me your youtube channel" says Phil.  
Dan blushes and mumbles something.  
"what?" asks Phil.  
"danisnotonfire" says Dan quietly.  
Phil laughs at this, "Really?"  
"I came up with it when I was 12!" says Dan giggling and turning a lovely shade of pink. Phil can't help but stare at him. His hair is curly now and he's blushing so adorably, and he looks so hot in Phil's clothes. He's hot and cute at the same time. How?!  
"so." Dan says thankfully interrupting That train of thought.  
"Do you like anime?" asks Phil."Oh my god yes" replies Dan excited.  
"Let's watch Attack on Titan" says Phil grabbing his laptop and jumping over to his bed ignoring the rational part of his mind saying that it's probably not a good idea to watch anime in bed with the brother of his fiance.   
Dan looks over at Dan still sitting on the floor.  
"well?" says Phil.  
"right." says Dan going over to lay next to Phil. They only get through 3 episodes before they drift off to sleep.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> okay so this update took a bit longer then a week lolz

Dan wakes slowly, blinking the sleep out of his eyes. He sighs contently still half asleep unnaturally warm…? Dan frowns moving closer to the source of warmth, not fully aware as a result of his sleep riddled state. As Dan slowly wakes he’s suddenly struck with the reality of the situation. He’s literally in the prince’s bed, the prince that by the way is technically engaged to his fucking sister. Dan tenses before he shifts starting to get up, surprised when a warm arm pulls him back, holding him close. Dan’s face is essentially pressed against Phil’s chest almost in the crook of his neck. Phil in his still asleep haze, clings to Dan and sighs contently. Dan flushes feeling his face turning pink, though he can’t being himself to pull away like he knows he should. He feels Phil waking and immediately squeezes his eyes shut in a last minute attempt to pretend he’s still asleep to save Phil the embarrassment of waking up in bed with Dan, and to save himself from having to deal with the consequences of having allowed himself to sleep, however innocently, with the literal prince.  
Dan waits eyes still shut, waiting for Phil to move away or to yell at him or something. When nothing happens Dan hesitantly opens a single eye to look up at Phil. Phil whose glasses were sliding down his nose, and who was currently sleepily smiling down at him. Dan blinks flushing pink as Phil brushes a stray curl out of his eyes. He finds himself leaning closer almost subconsciously. keyword almost. Phil’s eyes flicker to his lips and they are so close just….  
And a knock on the door sends Dan jumping in shock, literally falling off the bed. fantastic. Dan groans from the floor, hearing Phil stifling a laugh. Phil gets up quickly tidying his hair and going to the door. He opens the door a bit standing in the doorway to block the view into the room hoping that whomever is there won’t see Dan tangled in sheets on the floor.  
One of the various servants nervously stands there, wringing her hands.  
“Yes?” said Phil smiling politely.  
“Breakfast is prepared in the dining hall, your highness.”, she said visibly anxious to be in his presence.  
“Okay, thanks I’ll be down in a bit.”, said Phil with another smile starting to back into his room. He watches her turn to walk to the room next door and freezes. shit. Dan’s not in there.  
“Wait!”, he said suddenly and she freezes spinning to face him eyes wide, “I’ll um…I’ll get Dan don’t worry about it erm just...yeah”  
Phil hears Dan snort softly somewhere behind him, presumably still on the floor. She nods slowly the hint of a smile somewhere on her face and turns to leave. Phil watches her go then quickly shuts the door releasing a breath he hadn’t realised he’d been holding. Dan bursts into laughter giggling uncontrollably, still, as Phil predicted, on the floor. When they meet eyes they both immediately blush quickly looking away from each other.  
“Um...so breakfast is ready?”, says Phil awkwardly. Dan groans from the floor making no move to get up. Phil chuckles going over to his closet stopping before walking in.  
“I’ll pick something out for you” he says to Dan. Dan smirks up at him humming. Phil blushes and turns quickly going into the closet (ha). He dresses quickly grabbing a pair of black skinny jeans, and a dark blue button up, fixing his hair in a small mirror mounted on the wall. He grabs another pair of black skinny jeans, a sky blue shirt, and a pale yellow hoodie for Dan.  
He emerges back into the bedroom, out of the closet (lel) and smiles softly down at Dan still on the floor. Dan’s looking at the ceiling, his nervousness evident with the small frown on his face. He jumps startled when he notices Phil gazing at him, blushing. Phil smiles even more at Dan’s near constant blushing.  
Dan hesitantly sits up blinking harshly. Phil gestures towards the small pile of clothes he’s picked out for Dan, before mumbling something about brushing teeth and quickly going to the bathroom to brush his teeth. He zones out while brushing his teeth, worrying about the fact that he and Dan were literally cuddling. I mean it’s not that he was uncomfortable or anything. That was the problem. He was entirely too comfortable. I mean he was still low key engaged to Dan’s sister. ugh. Who’s idea was all this.  
Phil jumped toothpaste dribbling down his chin when he noticed Dan hovering nervously by the doorway to the bathroom. Dan giggled, smiling softly at Phil. Phil turned to properly face Dan and nearly choked to death on toothpaste. He turned around again quickly, attempting to ignore Dan’s smirk. He finished brushing his teeth, then slowly turned back around to Dan.  
Phil’s hoodie was oversized on Dan and made sweater paws, somehow managing to make Dan even more adorable. That combined with Dan’s curls and the ever present blush made Phil blush turning red trying to tear his eyes away from Dan. Dan smirked at him and Phil could have sworn he’d winked. Winked. Phil swallowed his mouth suddenly dry, this was certainly not helping avoid Phil’s developing crush.  
“So….breakfast?” said Dan with a small yawn, smiling up at Phil innocently.  
“Y-yeah.” replied Phil before clearing his throat. He went and opened the door to the hall holding it open for Dan. Phil walked leading the way through the winding halls of the palace. Halfway, through Phil timidly reaches out, and grasps Dan’s hand continuing to look forward purposely avoiding Dan’s eyes. Dan squeezes his hand and manages to catch his eye with a small hesitant smile.  
When they arrive at the doors to the dining room, they pause turning to each other, before Phil releases Dan’s hand looking down. Dan frowns embarrassed and disappointed, perhaps in himself for thinking that it was even okay for them to hold hands for thinking that maybe Phil, no the Prince, thinking that the literal Prince who was ya know engaged, would want to hold his hand, Dan quickly cleared his face of any emotion and let his thoughts cloud over. He quickly moved forward past Phil to enter the dining room. Daphne was already sitting, visibly uncomfortable as the queen enthusiastically discussed wedding dresses. Daphne looked up at Dan relieved at his entrance. Dan slipped into the seat next to her, shaking his head at Daphne’s questioning frown. She was always able to tell when something was wrong. Dan sits quietly ignoring when Daphne nudges him. Phil sits across from him.  
Eventually Daphne sighs, serving him pancakes and urging him to eat something, before turning back to smile brightly at the Queen. Dan begrudgingly eats smiling at the queen in an effort to avoid further concern.  
“Not a morning person?” says the Queen with a slightly judgemental smile.  
Dan just nervously laughed in response urging the conversation away from him. Dan finishes a pancake then puts aside his fork with a pointed glare at Daphne who smiles victorious.  
“Thank you for having us, unfortunately I have classes today and must leave, thank you your majesty”, says Daphne to the queen.  
“Of course! It was lovely to have you.” she replied, a smile bright on her face, “Philip, please escort them”. The queen rises urging them to go.  
They all rise following Phil to the dining room door. They follow him through the halls in awkward silence.  
“Daphne, can you give me a ride? Someone came and picked me up?”, asks Dan quietly.  
“shit. Yeah same” said Daphne with a sigh.  
“I’ll get someone” said Phil.  
They continue walking through the winding halls in silence. Daphne thought about how she hadn’t actually addressed the fact that she really didn’t want to marry Phil. The queen seemed very satisfied by the whole arrangement though and as much as Daphne didn’t want this, she would also prefer to not upset the queen.  
“I’m bi.”, said Daphne spontaneously deciding that she might as well come out.  
Daphne cautiously glanced at Phil to gauge his reaction. He seemed...unsurprised? Well, that wasn’t a bad thing. Dan on the other hand seemed shocked. Perhaps more so at the context of her coming out then the announcement itself.  
“same.” said Phil with a snort. At this Dan spluttered before promptly tripping over nothing and falling. At least it was on brand. Phil was quick to catch him, as though he had been watching Dan which wasn’t entirely wrong. At this Daphne burst into laughter. What a mess. She had randomly decided to come out and Phil, prince philip for fucks sake, responded by coming out as well. And Dan was now essentially being held in Phil’s arms. When Dan lingered in Phil’s arms a second longer than necessary, Daphne had a fleeting thought that it would all work out. Dan and Phil would be cute together she mused before promptly shaking her head deciding that that would never happen.  
Dan meanwhile was losing his shit. Phil was bi. I mean, he realized that his sister just came out as well, but Phil. Dan abruptly realized that he was still in Phil’s arms. He quickly stepped back and, of fucking course, tripped again. Smooth. Phil reached forward quickly and wrapped an arm around Dan’s waist pulling him back to Phil.  
Dan’s shirt had ridden up a bit and he shivered as Phil shifted moving so his hands were on either side of Dan’s waist, holding him steady.  
“Are you alright?” murmured Phil not letting go.  
Dan tried to reply but couldn’t, instead gasping sharply as Phil’s hands trailed along his skin before releasing him. Dan blinked, gulping harshly before turning away a blush already present on his face, and mumbled something about classes. He looked down his skin feeling electric where Phil’s arms had been.  
Phil smirked at him, and continued leading the way. While Phil and Daphne joked about something, Dan paid no mind and silently followed behind them internally freaking out about what had just transpired.  
Dan had to stop, he couldn’t fall for his sister’s fiance especially since he was the literal Prince. As Dan continues on this train of though he doesn’t notice Phil speaking to him until Daphne nudges him with a knowing look.  
Dan blinks realizing that they are already standing besides a car, and Phil is looking at him intently.  
“What?” said Dan smartly.  
Phil smiles, immediately prompting Dan to blush, again.  
“I was just inviting you two to dinner on Friday.” says Phil.  
“Oh um yeah that, that sounds good.”  
“Great, we’ll send someone by to pick you both up.” says Phil with a smile before turning to go.  
Dan enters the car behind Daphne and they sit quietly during the drive both trying to process the events of the day.  
After the thing with Phil catching Dan, Daphne had decided that they would be cute together. The more she thought about it the better it sounded. If she could get them together, she’d be able to date Rebecca, and the queen would still get to plan a royal wedding. Now all she had to do was get them to fall in love.


End file.
